Fewer cigarettes, fewer joints, less alcohol: 16 -year -old French teens have never consumed drugs as much as in 2024. But behind these good news, another practice settles firmly: electronic cigarettes.
Tobacco, alcohol and cannabis: a historic fall in France
The figures for the ESSE 2024 survey are clear: young people 16 years old consume significantly fewer substances than ten years ago. In 2015, 16 % smoked tobacco daily. In 2024, they were only 3.1 %. The experiment fell at 20 %, well below the European average (32 %).
Same trend on the alcohol side. In 2024, 68 % of French teens have already drank alcohol, compared to more than 70 % in Europe. If the decline is real, risky behavior persists: 22 % say they have experienced significant punctual alcoholism in the month, almost one in four.
Cannabis, long pointed out as a French marker, is further back. In ten years, the experiment has increased from 31 % to 8.4 %, a level which now places France among the least consumer European countries. The monthly use also drops to 4.3 %.
Electronic cigarette: the exception that climbs
If tobacco, alcohol and cannabis are down, the electronic cigarette is installed in the daily life of teens. In 2024, 38 %of young people 16 years old have already vapoted, with little difference between girls (41 %) and boys (35 %).
The use in the month reaches 16 %, and almost 6 % vapor every day, twice as much as those who smoke tobacco. France is thus in the European average, far behind Hungary where more than half of the young people have already tried.
Illicit drugs beyond cannabis: a limited phenomenon
Hard drugs remain in the minority, but they exist. In 2024, 3.9 % of 16 -year -old French people said they had experienced an illegal drug other than cannabis, compared to 5 % on an average of European. At the top, cocaine (1.7 %), followed by amphetamines (1.3 %), crack (1.2 %) and MDMA (1.1 %).
© Ofdt
These levels remain down compared to 2015, where 7.5 % of French teenagers had already tested at least one hard drug. In Europe, significant differences persist: Cyprus culminates at almost 10 %, while Georgia drops to 1.7 %.